Monday, May 14, 2012

There is a trend taking over the chip world as of late. It's the chip equivalent of a regular dude hitting the gym like a madman. Much like when Doritos recently got Jacked, it looks like the people at Ruffles decided that it was time they stepped up their game too. But they couldn't just toss a couple new flavors out there,oh no, they had to change the chip too. How? MAKE IT ULTIMATE!!!

Feast your eyes on the ULTIMATE RUFFLES!

So what exactly does that mean?

Well...They kinda make the ridges a lot deeper, and the chip is a bit thicker. (this is debated at Fatguyfoodblog headquarters). The bags boast "HardERcore ridges for hardcore dips".

Other than that, they have lots of flavor. But are they good flavors?

Kickin' Jalapeno Ranch.

These chips are very interesting. There is the tang of ranch, and a slight spice from the jalapeno, that certainly intensifies as you eat them, but there's also another flavor...Grass. yes. Grass. Like your front lawn. These chips have a grass flavor. I think it's actually them trying to get the flavor of the actual jalapeno pepper before just making it spicy. But it ends up being grass. That being said...it isn't bad. Here's how the taste goes:

1- Hmmm tangy Ranch

2- Wait is that grass?

3- Ohhhh spicy ranch

4- Wait...Grass?

They will weird you out a bit, but in the end, they are pretty good. I know that probably sounds weird, but trust us. We're chip experts.

Sweet & Smokin' BBQ.

Aside from the ULTIMATE style chip, these are pretty standard. They are a sweet BBQ flavor with a bite. Like the other flavor, the heat intensifies as you eat them, but never hits the point where I would call them hot. I'm a wimp when it comes to spicy things and I could eat these all day.

But I probably wouldn't want to because there isn't anything very special about them. They are a decent BBQ chip. They kind of taste like sweet beef jerky. Which isn't terrible, but it's also not the best flavor of all time.

They also have a plain ULTIMATE RUFFLE, but at Fatguyfoodblog, we don't mess around with plain chips. If someone brings a bag of plain chips to my house during a barbecue, I snatch it out of their hands, spike it onto the ground and stomp on it, then let the hound dog gobble up the crumbs. We are into serious chips, son. With serious flavor!

When I got home with these two bags of chips, as I was sampling them, I noticed on that back that they had new ULTIMATE DIPS!

Man, I wanted to be an Ultimate Dipper. So over the next few days I looked all around and finally scored some of the Smokehouse bacon dip. The Beef N' Cheddar one is nowhere to be found. If anyone else out in the world tracked it down, let us know how it is.

The Bacon Smokehouse dip wasn't bad. It's consistency reminds me of French Onion dip, but instead of little pieces of onion, there's little chunks of bacon. It's got a very smoky, kind of generic bacon flavor. Not terrible but not delicious either.

I tried it on both the Ultimate chips so that there wouldn't be a soul on Gods Green Earth who could make a case that I wasn't an Ultimate Dipper. The result? It was actually better on the BBQ because it stuck out the most. I feel like the Ranch taste on the Jalapeno Ranch ones just kind of mask the base of the dip so it ends up just being a blob on your chip that's taste can't be discerned.

Should you buy them? They aren't terrible, and they are something new. If you're tired of the same old thing and you've taken down too many of whatever chip it is that you love more than the rest, then give these a try. I'd go with the Jalapeno Ranch first though. So you can taste the grass and then agree that they aren't bad at all.

12 comments:

I wonder if we'll ever reach a linguistic singularity at which point superlatives like "ultimate" will lose all meaning, and to indicate that something is at its zenith of quality, we'll just refer to the thing itself with no modifiers.

I became a fan of the jalapeno ranch at first bite....that is, until I read that it tastes like grass. Last time I ate some, I just giggled as I chewed. It tastes like grass. Thanks pal. Anyone want the remainder of the big bag I just purchased?

Dude. I am SO glad I'm not the only person that noticed the jalapeno ranch chips taste like grass. Crazy! They are decent though, but I won't miss them the way I miss the Molten Hot Wing Ruffles and Jalapeno Popper Late Night Doritos (I seriously want to strangle a Lay's executive over these two leaving production).

I have to disagree on the smokehouse bacon dip though. I'd give it at least a B+. The baconness is done so well that I can actually eat it by the spoonful - but for my safety I choose not to. I think it pairs well enough with the jalapeno ranch chips, haven't tried it on the BBQ.

And I finally found the beef and cheese dip at a Walmart last night after several weeks of searching and anticipation. It's lousy. Take the most generic cheese dip you can imagine and drop a few cheap chunks of canned chili style beef in. And I do mean "few." Unlike the outrageous generosity of bacon bits in the superior dip, the beef and cheese dip has served as host to maybe half a dozen small chunks of beef in the third of a jar I've consumed so far. It gets a D from me, at best.

Sitting here shoving these Jalapeno Ranch into my face, thinking "These are weird and good," which is obviously true since I'm still puzzled but almost finished with the bag. Wondered what you'd have to say. Grass. YES! Grass. I thought, perhaps they're including the "ultimate" taste of a manly, unwashed, dirty potato. Tastes like dirt, to me.